HeidelbergCement reduces carbon emissions in 2016

HeidelbergCement reduced its CO2 emissions by 22.6% compared to a 1990 baseline in 2016, the company said in its latest Sustainability Report. CO2 emissions per tonne of cement were 598 kg last year, according to the company.

The fall in CO2 emissions came partly as the company significantly increased its use of alternative fuels at a number of plants throughout the group. Overall, the company increased its alternative fuel rate to 23.5% (excluding former Italcementi plants) in 2016.

“The numbers show that HeidelbergCement made progress in 2016,” said the company’s CEO, Dr Bernd Scheifele.

The increased use of alternative fuels was particularly high in northern Europe, where some kilns boosted their alternative fuels utilisation rates by as much as 10%. The plant at Goradze in Poland led the way, hitting an alternative fuel rate of 70%.

At legacy Italcementi plants, Heidelberg Cement also worked to increase alternative fuel use with some initial success in France and Morocco, where around 15% of its energy needs are now met by old tyres. A waste processing systems was also development in Morocco in cooperation with waste producers, waste treatment companies, and municipalities.

The company is also active in R&D into technologies to use CO2 as a resource, said Scheifele, including as part of the EU-funded CEMCAP project, which aims to promote the use of carbon capture technologies in the cement industry.

As part of that, HeidelbergCement is currently working on developing technology that uses pure CO2 to cool clinker, with a pilot project underway at a facility in Hannover, Germany.

HeidelbergCement’s plant in Brevik, Norway, has also hosted tests of various CO2 separation technologies. The Norwegian government has now decided to undertake a comprehensive feasibility study for the construction of a large-scale CO2 separation facility at Brevik, investigated whether 0.4 million tpy off CO2 can be separated and stored underground.